valentines day.

I love Valentines day. I usually do pink pancakes, strawberries, and strawberry milk for our traditional Valentine breakfast, but since Jer does not do pancakes, and I couldn't find any decent strawberries, I switched it up this year.

We had fresh raspberries

French Toast. Made with day old homemade white bread (or for those who are in my ward, it was a loaf of Trish's sacrament bread recipe) I made a few days before and I let it get a little stale. I have never eaten french toast quite so delicous. Try it.

Sausage Egg Casserole...also a must try recipe, found here.

two cute boys, one with some serious bed head.

And then after we ate and ate and stuffed ourselves to the point of feeling ill, the boys cordially invited us for a trampoline party. Oooh, I don't recommend it.

I had to get a picture before these new front teeth push their way through. I have really enjoyed this boy with his missing front teeth, I love the toothless smile and the way he lisps when he talks. Ready or not: Here come those big jagged adult teeth to ruin our fun! ;)

Oh, and he is finally at his dream hair stage that he begged and pleaded and even cried for. He loves his luscious locks! it was very hard for me to allow it, but when I saw his eyes fill up with tears I knew I needed to loosen up my reigns and simply let it be.

snow trip.

Last weekend we finally made it up to the snow. We just took a day trip and went up to the Forest Lakes area. Once we found our spot, some other families were just leaving so we had the whole space to ourselves. It was a wide open plain with a small hill just perfect for sledding, snowman making, snow tasting, snowball fights, and making snow angels.

I never want to forget this day because it was perfect, and I never want to forget the way I felt. Looking around at the beautiful white scene and the smiles of my sweet family, it felt exactly like what I imagine heaven to feel like. Peaceful, happy, and content. I got teary eyed then and now as I think about it. I love my three boys immensely and feel so grateful I get to spend my eternity with them!

Sundays with no TV or video games force these two to be creative and even better, be creative together. They like to get in their own boxes and put all their favorite things inside. They call their box "The Wub Club of Fun." Then they scoot their little clubs of fun right next to eachother and talk and play.

white trash neighbors.

Uh... what was I thinking? Uncle Zach won this XL pig at the arcade for Brayden, the thing is huge, and so when it got a couple little holes in it as a result of wrestling, I wasn't too concerned with stitching them up and put it out on the patio to be thrown away as soon as our garbage can made room. These boys LOVE to bounce with balls & toys on the tramp and play 'don't touch it' games, so I thought...perfect. How fun would it be to bounce with the PIG? I threw it on the tramp and the boys thought it was hilarious. I felt pretty cool about my idea. 15 minutes later, I check on them and it looked like it just snowed in our backyard. These tiny Styrofoam bits were everywhere, and clung to their hair, skin, and clothes by the thousands. I tried picking them off one by one, but then they started sticking to me, not to mention it was taking forever. So I got out the vacuum and sucked the boys clean with vacuum hose. What would I have done without a vacuum??

p.s. our grass is still covered in 'snow'....any suggestions?

ramblings

Today while I was running a song came on my Ipod, all but like 5 songs which I actually bought and downloaded are Jer's songs that he has downloaded over the years. Anyway, the song repeated "the motivation for me is them telling me what I could not be..."

and I immediately thought to one particular day when I was in high school. When I told my dad that my biggest dream would be to move to San Diego, go to SDSU and be a whale trainer at Sea World. Every time I had been to Sea World and watched the Shamu show, as silly as it sounds, it spoke to my heart. I really wanted to work there. I told my Dad of my plans, and he shot them down. He told me that it would never happen. I don't remember the details of what he said or how he said it, but it broke my heart. I think that may have been the last day I ever even considered that plan. I'm sure he was right, I'm sure it would have never happened. But what if he had encouraged me even a {little} or even helped me achieve that dream? Let me be clear in saying that I love my Dad very much and respect many things about him; one of them is his frank honesty.

But sometimes frank honesty or even a strong opinion is not what you are looking for. Being a parent has made me reflect so much on my youth and my parents, both good and bad.

And one thing I know is, when Brayden tells me he really wants to be an Astronaut more than anything.... I tell him: I can't wait.

I have such a hard time throwing away adorable little sentiments like these....and he claims to 'hate' being called "Bubby." I think I'll start photographing them more in an effort to keep my house from looking like an episode of Hoarders.